Lori and George Schappell were born in 1961, and during their lives, they set multiple world records. They were conjoined by their skulls, and the first world record they set was as the oldest female conjoined twins. That was before George came out as transgender in 2007. He was formerly called Reba. After transitioning to George, the twins set a new record as the first set of same-sex conjoined twins to identify as different genders.

Now, Lori and George will go down in history as the world’s oldest living conjoined twins. TODAY reports that they died on April 7, 2024. They were 62 years old.

The Schappell twins shared blood vessels and 30% of their brains. According to the Guinness World Records, they were the rarest form of conjoined twins, making up only 2-6% of all cases of conjoined twins.

Even though the twins spent their entire lives connected to each other, they were never able to see each other’s faces. They were connected by their foreheads, facing away from each other.

Separating conjoined twins was not something that was possible when they twins were born, and the twins didn’t ever wish to be separated. In 2002, Lori told the Los Angeles Times, “I don’t believe in separation.” She added, “I think you are messing with God’s work.” Lori continued, “I don’t wake up thinking, ‘Oh, I’m a conjoined twin.’ I have two arms and two legs. I’m just a regular person…. I live a normal life.”

Lori didn’t even like to be asked if she wished they were separated. The only instance when they would be willing to be separated would be if one of the twins died. In that instance, they could be separated in order to save the other twin’s life.

Watch the video below, which was filmed before Reba transitioned to George, to see more of how the twins went about their lives and tried to live separate lives while still conjoined.